Addiction to Processed Foods

For a couple of weeks now I've wanted to find a presentation by Robert Lustig to listen to again and share. We've had the best weather. It's been sunny and warm. The breeze settled down, so I decided tonight would be perfect for a long walk along the bay after a dinner of salmon, fresh vegetables, and a small peach. On the way there, I stopped by the local food co-op to buy a small cookie made with coconut, egg, almond flour, and sugar, partially coated with milk chocolate. I enjoyed it on the way to the bay.

It's a three mile walk. I listened to one of Lustig's lectures thinking it was the one I was looking for. It wasn't, but it was interesting and taught me a few things I didn't know so it was all good. Then the next video started, and I was intrigued so began listening to it on the way home...

Food Sensitivities and Health by Joan Ifland, Ph.D., MBA (May 2019), published online by the Silicon Valley Health Institute in Palo Alto, California...


I'm familiar with her work because she published a textbook, Processed Food Addiction, last year, and Dr. Lustig is going to use it to teach a class to osteopath students this fall.

When I arrived home, I checked my glucose level and it was 170 mg/dl. It was the cookie. Decided to let the rise peak while I prepped one of the ingredients for a soup I'm making tomorrow, and continued to listen to Dr. Ifland's lecture.

Checked my glucose level again, and it was 185 mg/dl so headed out the door for a shorter 1 mile walk and continued to listen. I finished shortly after arriving back home. Glucose level was back down to 110 mg/dl. I can go to bed now, but wanted to post the link to the lecture for you all first.

I thought I had a good understanding of what the tobacco and processed food companies have done and continue to do, but I learned even more tonight. Definitely worth a listen. It's a brutally honest overview of where we are today with processed foods and how we got here.

As I listened I kept thinking of my friends and co-workers who are struggling to lose weight and restore their health. What these companies have done is wrong, wrong, wrong. And now they're exporting the harm they caused here to the rest of the world. And even more shocking, the US government isn't going to put a stop to it. It's up to us.

Still weighing whether or not the cookie was worth walking 4 miles tonight...

DCUKMod, thanks for posting that link. I thought I'd watched it previously, but I hadn't. And I always enjoy Jen Unwin's upbeat and empathetic manner of presenting useful information and helpful strategies. I also enjoyed hearing Charlotte present on the Low Carb Program.

I have a few friends and acquaintances who are obese and/or or have diabetes. And the worst part of it is they don't understand how damaging processed foods are or how they have been and continue to be victimized by the processed food industry.

I've often wondered why my diet has always been reasonably healthy. Not sure, but I suspect it may be due to not watching television for decades - (my husband and I rent and watch movies and documentaries instead). I don't even listen to the radio much any more. The advertising wears me out. Instead, I've focused on other things like decorating, writing, papercrafting, and art journaling, and more recent years, reading books and listening to experts on how to restore and maintain good health on YouTube.

Prior to stumbling onto the low carb/ketogenic diet in 2015, I knew processed foods were problematic, but had no idea how significantly damaging they are to the body. The reason I posted Dr. Ifland's video is because she's been studying and helping people with processed food addiction for 23 years and wrote a textbook that hopefully will be used to teach medical, nutrition, and dietitian students beginning this fall.

The textbook is expensive, but in her presentation, which is free, she tells us everything we need to know as consumers.

Sadly, the governments around the world are not going to protect us from the processed food industries (though there are many examples of local governments, hospitals, and school districts taking action in the US, so there is hope). The processed food industry is too big and too powerful. It's up to us to educate and protect ourselves and our loved ones.

I know it's an investment of time to watch, but it's so worth it.